The challenge I’m putting out to you, my readers, is to see if you can tell the difference.

We hear a lot about "fake news" in the media these days. But what about "fake" (i.e. digitally manipulated) facial expressions on our friends in the Animal Kingdom?

We may never fully understand the emotional lives of our fellow animals, let alone be able to accurately interpret what emotions are readable on an animal face. But when an animal displays a face that resembles the human version of anger, sadness, joy, or surprise, our brains take for granted that such a pose is “natural”, as well as projecting the associated feeling onto the creature in question. Even if someone tells you in no uncertain terms, "Friend, there is no way that a seal lying on a beach laughs like you and me when they are happy”, when we see such a photograph, we can't help but think, “I wonder what was so funny?”.

That’s a natural reaction, an instinctive, one, and one which is hard-wired into our human brains - it's safer to project our feelings onto animals than to miss the cues of an angry or submissive creature. Such faces go viral; just google that laughing seal and see how many times it’s been reposted!

How such a face is possible is another question. Apparently, seals can squint their eyes and open their mouth in a way that, from a certain angle and with certain light, resembles a human laughing. However it happened in the photograph, we find it completely plausible.

In fact, no animal actually expresses emotion the way we do; not seals, not snakes, not sloths. Nonetheless, these seemingly-plausible animal expressions appear with some regularity in nature photography. In some cases, there is an obvious anatomical explanation, having to do with a particular mouth shape or fur pattern. In other cases, as with some of the faces here, the story behind the photo may be a peculiarity of camera angle and individual skin folds.

And then there is Photoshop. Retouching goes back to the early days of photography. (Have you ever seen the Jackalope?) Because the main purpose of this blog is to give artists permission to pose realistic animal faces using human expressive patterns, I found photographs of animals with no expressions, and manipulated them to make them look angry or happy, trying to respect the structure of each animal's face and not overdo it. In the gallery I’ve posted below, I’ve mixed up Faigin versions (except one) of animal facial expressions, with those captured “in the wild”.

“Fake” animal facial expressions are here defined as ones which you suspect of being retouched, versus “real”, which means it seems plausible to you that the photo was captured in the wild. For me, the bottom line is: It Doesn’t Matter! If we (the artists) can’t detect the “real” animal expressions from the posed ones when skillfully done, neither can our audience.

Not only that, the upside of creating animal characters that audiences can identify with emotionally outweighs the downside of sticking to the anatomical and muscular limitations of any species. When your cowardly lion looks frightened instead of neutral, viewers feel scared on his behalf, not wondering if his expression is plausible lion behavior.

​That having been said, take the test! There are seventeen animal photos for you to discern which pictures are "fake" vs. "real"? The answers are below.

Figure 8. Guffawing Tiger - fake or real?

Figure 9. Contented Gorilla - fake or real?

Figure 10. Irate Hare - fake or real?

Figure 12. Outraged Owl - fake or real?

Figure 14. Enraged Lion - fake or real?

Figure 11. Furious Cat - fake or real?

Figure 13. Irritated Turtle - fake or real?

Figure 15. Fuming Bear - fake or real?

Figure 16. Terrifying Tiger - fake or real?

Figure 17. Dismayed Beagle - fake or real?

Tally your Results. Photo-Manipulated or Natural Expressions?How Well can You Spot the Fakes?

(go to the bottom of this post to see totals)

This photo was not manipulated by the author!

Figure 1. Happy Hippo - FAKE!

The hippo has a mean set of ivories that are set wide apart, unlike the gleaming pearly whites (at left) An unknown artist photo-manipulated this image by applying human lips & teeth to the hippo face. It's the most obvious fake of all the pictures here, and even I didn't notice the forgery at first - our brain wants to see happy critters!

Figure 18. Photo of a real hippo with open mouth.

Figure 2. Delighted Turtle - REAL!

Reptiles are particularly unlikely candidates for expressive faces, having no musculature what-soever to smile broadly or to squint their eyes. The turtle's face is interpreted as "smilng" based on his hyper-alert eyes and his bow-shaped open mouth, common to stylized characters.

This cute kitty is all over the internet. The success of her happy pose is a case of a random fur pattern that starts at the mouth corners and mimics a smile. To prove this, I've edited out the accidental stripes (see red arrows, fig. 20) and the kitty's smile completely disappears.

Figure 20. It's all in the fur pattern, as the eyes and the mouth are neutral.

Figure 4. Smiling Sloths - REAL!

Quoted from LIVEScience - the sloth's "mouth is shaped in a way that makes the animal appear as if it's always smiling." Figure 21 is a photo of a sloth without the “cute” expression -- far less appealing, unless you’re another sloth.

Figure 21. A screaming sloth.

​Figure 5. Laughing Seal - REAL!

This seal is a web classic, and not the only guffawing seal on the internet (see right). The bow-shaped mouth is 90% of the story with any wide smile, and when it appears in the animal kingdom, we're on it in an instant.

Figure 22. More ridiculously "happy" seals

Figure 6. Cheerful Corgi - REAL!

Perhaps this phantom doggie smile, bow shaped with an up-curved tail, is one reason corgis are so perennially popular. This dog's smile is also a possible model for the peculiar toothless smile displayed by characters like Mickey Mouse and the dwarfs in Snow White.

Figure 23. Mickey's grin has the same toothless smile.

This photo was manipulated by the author.

Figure 7. Gushing Lion - FAKE!

​The original lion photograph gave me plenty to work with as it had a vague resemblance to a smiling face. Using Photoshop, I lifted the mouth corners which widened the mouth and I reversed the curve of the upper lip, and squinted the eyes.

Figure 24. The original lion photo already looks "friendly."

This photo was manipulated by the author.

Figure 8. Guffawing Tiger - FAKE!

​The mouth of the laughing tiger (at left) is widened past what is anatomically possible, but that is only apparent when comparing it to the photo of a real tiger (at right). Otherwise, we’re just fine with my laughing version.

I wouldn’t have been bold enough to try to put this much anger onto the face of a mere bunny rabbit, but somehow this pose appeared in the wild. Based on our assumptions about sweet little bunnies, this face is very out of character, and of such oddities, internet memes are born.

Figure 11. Furious Cat - REAL!

​Do we have a hidden bias that makes evil cats so plausible? As a cat-lover myself, I have no problem with recognizing the dark side of the feline species. I’m sure that this actual cat is as cuddly and harmless as its fellow felines, in spite of this curious, anomalous pose.

Figure 12. Outraged Owl - REAL!

​Here is a terrific example of the light iris phenomena I discussed last month that gives this owl its outraged look. You can see how its wide-eyed expression vanishes when I edit the iris so that it’s dark instead of light. Contrast is how we read facial expressions, and the iris/sclera contrast is one of the most important of these high contrast display features on the face.

Figure 26. This is the same owl face with its irises darkened as is common with many birds and animals.

Figure 13. Irritated Turtle - REAL!

​Anger is readable at rather low levels of intensity, provided there is coordinated action between the mouth and the eye shown here frowning and scowling, respectively. The high camera angle is no doubt responsible for the apparent upper lid obliquity, not an eye margin action in the reptilian repertoire.

This photo was manipulated by the author.

Figure 14. Enraged Lion - FAKE!

​Displaying teeth is always useful to get an angry face to read, as here; it’s a threatening gesture, even when done by humans. The scowl and visible sclera (no animal can do that) is a bit over the top, but I didn’t mind the exagerration.

Figure 27. The original lion photo. Notice the difference between the eyes in the two photos.

This photo was manipulated by the author.

Figure 15. Fuming Bear - FAKE!

​Cows and bears don’t show up very often with smiles and scowls. I tried to limit the changes to the mouth, but the eyes are completely altered, with the iris lightened and enlarged relative to the dark pupil, and the brow scowled.

Figure 28. The original bear photo.

This photo was manipulated by the author.

Figure 16 . Terrifying Tiger - FAKE!

If anyone was able to quickly spot my angry tiger as a fake, I’d be most curious what clues you used. The snarl that curls the upper lip around the nasty fangs is a very powerful reinforcing element in the mouth pose, and I made the pupil bigger and the iris lighter to send a stronger signal from the scowling eye.

Figure 29. The original tiger photo. Notice the difference between the eyes in the two photos.

This photo was manipulated by the author.

Figure 17. Dismayed Beagle - FAKE!

Oddly enough, it's almost impossible to find a frowning dog on the net; cantankerous felines outnumber angry canines 100 to 1. To create this irritated beagle, I choose the photo at right because the iris was already light. I enlarged his pupils and re-did his upper eyelid. Down boy!​

Figure 30. The original dog photo. Besides reworking the eyes, I gave the mouth a slight downward curl with subtlety being my goal.

How did you do? Did you tally 10 real & 7 fake photos?

I'd love to read your thoughts on this concept:​If you can’t detect “real” animal expressions from "fake" ones, then neither can your audience.

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So many faces. So many ways to express emotions. Faigin examines facial expressions in movie stills, cartoons, fine art, illustrations and photographs and shares his insightful analyses in his monthly blog.

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